April 21, 2018EconomyComments Off on “Debt relief for Greece could be finalized soon,” says Eurogroup chief Centeno321 Views

Greece and its creditors appear to be one step closer to reaching a final agreement on the restructuring of the country’s huge debt pile, according to Eurogroup President Mario Centeno. In an interview with CNBC, Centeno said that although there are still a “few issues” regarding Greece’s public debt, European creditors, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Athens are inching towards a resolution.

“We are in a good position to finalize the program with Greece,” Centeno said at the World Bank’s and IMF’s Spring Meetings 2018 conference in Washington.

“There are a few issues on the table that relate to the debt relief measures,” Centeno said. “We are working with all the institutions to reach an agreement and my sense is that indeed we are much closer to close the gaps then we were before.”

Restructuring the Greek debt has been one of the most controversial issues in the country’s third bailout program. At first, European creditors did not want to forego Greece’s debt, while at a later stage their estimations were different from the IMF’s — meaning that they haven’t managed to agree on how far the measures will have to go to make Greece’s debt more sustainable.

“Soon” is very vague and would most likely mean “after 506 months.” Worth noting that Germany has reiterated that debt relieg issue would be discussed after the country exits the bailout program in August 2018.